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The Democratic chairman of the House committee investigating the events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot said Thursday that law enforcement officers “lost their lives as a result of the attack.”
He made this assertion after prominent Democrats, including President Joe Biden, for months falsely claimed U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died as a result of the violence at the Capitol despite the medical examiner concluding that he died from a stroke and that his “manner of death” was “natural.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who leads the panel, said Thursday during the panel’s first prime-time hearing, “I know that some of the witnesses from our first hearing are in the room with us, along with some of the family members, friends, and widows of the officers who lost their lives as a result of the attack. Thank you all for being here for us and for the American people.” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the vice chairwoman of the committee, later said that Sicknick’s family was present Thursday night.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, led by Francisco Diaz, told the Washington Examiner in April 2021 that Sicknick’s “cause of death” was “acute brainstem and cerebellar infarcts due to acute basilar artery thrombosis” — a stroke — and that the “manner of death” was “natural.” The medical examiner said Sicknick was sprayed with a chemical substance at about 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 6, collapsed at the Capitol at about 10 p.m., was taken to a local hospital, and died at about 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 7.
PIPE BOMBER NIGHT BEFORE CAPITOL RIOT REMAINS UNIDENTIFIED
Although Diaz told the Washington Post that Sicknick suffered neither an allergic reaction to chemical irritants nor any injuries, he said that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.“
Biden claimed in June 2021 that “criminals” at the Capitol “kill[ed] a police officer.” The medical examiner’s office directly noted that the term “natural” is “used when a disease alone causes death” and that “if death is hastened by an injury, the manner of death is not considered natural.”
Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards testified Thursday about serving alongside Sicknick during the riot as they pushed back against the rioters. She described Sicknick having his face in his hands after he was sprayed. Video that was played by the committee appeared to show Sicknick in discomfort.
The Justice Department says that more than 800 defendants have been arrested in relation to the Capitol riot, including over 250 defendants charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers. No one has been charged with killing police.
A Democratic pretrial impeachment memo from February 2021 falsely claimed that “the insurrectionists killed a Capitol Police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki falsely claimed in May 2021 that there were “a number of officers” who died the day of the Capitol riot. Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey Smith and Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood both died by suicide in January 2021 following the riot.
During a speech in January, just before the anniversary of the Capitol riot, Attorney General Merrick Garland held a moment of silence for Sicknick, Smith, and Liebengood, as well as Capitol Police officer Gunther Hashida and Capitol Police officer Kyle DeFreytag, who died by suicide in July 2021.
Thompson said in his opening remarks at the committee’s prior public hearing in July 2021 that “seven people lost their lives” in the riot. The number would appear to include Sicknick, the two officers who died by suicide in the following days, a protester shot by police, two protesters who the medical examiner said suffered fatal heart attacks, and another whom the medical examiner said died of a suspected drug overdose.
Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn also perpetuated the claim regarding Sicknick in his remarks at last summer’s hearing.
“I’d like to take a moment of my time to ask for a moment of silence for my fallen colleague, Officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries he sustained in the line of duty defending the Capitol of our beloved democracy,” Dunn said.
And Capitol Police officer Aquilino Gonell said at that hearing that “as a result of that day, we lost officers — some really good officers.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The only person determined to have been killed by someone during the riot was Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran and Trump supporter who was shot by a Capitol Police officer as she attempted to climb through a broken window into the Speaker’s Lobby. The officer, Lt. Michael Byrd, was not charged with a crime.
